NIPT is free for all pregnant women from 1 April

The NIPT now costs 175 euros, but from 1 April the blood test will be free for all pregnant women. Minister of Health Ernst Kuipers announced this a year ago. This will change even more in April.

The NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Test) tests whether an unborn baby has Edwards, Patau or Down syndrome.

NIPT free from April 1

From 1 April 2023, you no longer pay anything for the NIPT. A possible follow-up examination is sometimes done at your own risk. You can go to about four hundred locations for the research, which is more than before. The blood test can now take place from ten weeks of pregnancy, which was previously from eleven weeks. You will receive the result within ten calendar days. In April, the waiting time may temporarily increase to a maximum of 21 days, as blood collection locations and laboratories start working with new materials, equipment and processes.

Also read: Floor’s daughter has Down syndrome: “I can’t imagine life without her”

Incidental findings

If you opt for an NIPT, you must also decide whether you want to know about any incidental findings. Then not only chromosomes 21 (Down syndrome), 18 (Edwards syndrome) and 13 (Patau syndrome) are looked at, but all chromosomes. Parents are only told of incidental findings that could be serious for the child, carry a higher risk during pregnancy or indicate a disorder in the mother. From now on, the Health Council wants all results of the NIPT to be shared, including incidental findings. You then choose an NIPT with all findings or not at all. The council assumes that “pregnant women who opt for NIPT want to know whether the baby has a serious chromosome abnormality and that it does not matter which chromosome it concerns”, the advice from February states. It is not yet known whether the minister will adopt the advice. In any case, this will no longer be possible before 1 April 2023.

Source: NU.nl, RIVM

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